Metroid Prime 2

Genre

FPS

Developer / Publisher

Retro Studios, Inc. / Nintendo

Released

2004

Media

1 x

Rating

Graphics:

9.0

Sound:

8.5

Gameplay:

9.5

Reviewed by

ndial

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes is the sequel to Metroid Prime and one of the most anticipated sequels of all time! It's probably the most gorgeous GameCube game ever released (along with Resident Evil 4) and although it's not dramatically different from the original but, man, was a title every GameCube owning shooter fan should have!

Review

You play the role of bounty hunter Samus Aran once again, having as a main objective to locate federation troopers who are missing on Aether planet. Aether is torn into light and dark domains, so you'll have all-new beam weapons, a screw attack, and power-ups. The game goes to pretty impressive lengths to develop its storyline, though most of the plot development comes through the discovery of textual logs and ancient lore. Samus tracks a signal to the remote planet Aether and descends to the surface to find the missing detachment and soon enough, finds himself being drawn into a civil war between the Luminoth (a race that inhabits Aether), and the Ing (dark creatures who reside in an alternate-reality version of the planet referred to as Dark Aether). Gameplay takes place in a full 3D environment much like it's predecessor. A lot of control features are kept intact from the previous title, such as the ability to lock on to enemies and relevant background elements, which makes aiming on targets easier and frees you up to concentrate on exploring the enormous, complex environments. Samus is, again, equipped with visor system allowing him to see in a number of different spectrums and consequently facilitating plenty of new puzzle opportunities. The visor system consists of the dark visor and the echo visor. The dark visor lets you see more clearly in Dark Aether (items and enemies show up in bright red) whilst the echo visor acts as a sort of sonar, and literally lets you see in terms of sound. Both visors help you also to solve some tricky puzzles during your quest. Another addition is that, Samus can switch to spider ball which comes in handy for rolling up walls in ball form. in spider-ball form, you can also explode so that to destroy certain objects or getting into small pathways and discover other entrances. So gameplay involves with eliminating your enemies, solve complex puzzles, and open doors in an effort to restore peace to Aether. It is important to search the planet for upgrades that can improve Samus Aran's weaponry and gadgetry too! The game offers a new four-player compatible multiplayer mode, in which up to four players can fight in a standard deathmatch-style competition. Metroid Prime 2 is superb and nearly flawless.

The game runs in progressive scan mode so that it looks extremely crisp and detailed, although textures tend to blur up close. Just like its predecessor, the game runs at a perfectly smooth frame rate of 60fps which makes gameplay even better, indeed. It offers more advanced particle and lighting effects, along with reflections and transparencies, boasting greater geometric detail!The sound design is excellent too, offering great soundtracks and a wide assortment of thumping sound effects.